Page 32 of Tortured Souls

Clap.

Clap.

I look beside me and see Finn slowly clapping at my girl’s hard work in front of us. My head turns back to Sky, who’s pulled a gun from her waist band and is now pointing it directly at the two of us.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Her voice is venom, dripping with rage and fury. My cock twitches once more. Fuck, this woman is beautiful. Put a gun in her hand, and I’m practically coming in my jeans already. I step towards her, her body ramrod straight as she holds still, gun raised.

“Tesoro, you’ve been busy tonight.” Slowly, she lowers her gun, but her expression remains furious at our disruption.

“Saxon, what are you doing here?” Her tone is firm, demanding an answer.

“I was thinking about you today.” I start walking around her handiwork, careful not to step in any blood, which is a challenge, since it’s everywhere. “I couldn’t wait to come see you. Looks to me like I came a little late. Party seems to be over.” She stalks angrily towards me but stops and points over her shoulder towards Finn.

“Don’t fucking touch that!” she yells at him. Finn, who is currently examining her blow torch that’s lying on her weapons table, raises his hands at her warning. Lowering them to his sides, he starts his exploration of the dead man, who is in pieces on the floor. When she’s satisfied with Finn not disrupting her crime scene, she turns back to me, her face hard with anger.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice is a deep whisper, her nose scrunched just a bit, making my core heat with how cute she is. I brush a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and lightly drag my fingertips down her face. She falters slightly, her eyes closing a little too heavily before snapping back open.

“Please leave.”

“Looks to me like you could use some help here.” I gesture to the game of Operation she’s been playing. She glances over her shoulder at her mess before settling her gaze back on me.

“Why would you do that?”

I cup her face in my hands, pulling her closer. Our lips graze before I place a soft kiss on her lips. Vanilla, amber, and flowers fill my nose—her scent is my favorite drug. I can still smell her, even over the scent of copper from our dead party guest.

“Because sometimes we need help, but we’re too stubborn to ask for it.” Letting my hands fall from her face, I step around her, snapping my fingers at Finn who is currently examining the slice marks Sky so precisely made on our little buddy.

“Black garbage bags. All parts go inside and get dumped in the dumpster out back, the ones labeled Vice.” Without a word, Finn gets to work, as do I. The pair of us put on gloves from the box on the back table and quickly load up Edmund into the bags. Once all his pieces are secured nicely in the garbage bags, Finn begins taking them outside.

“I feel like Santa, carrying his big bag of presents,” Finn says in an overly excited tone as he swings a bag over his large shoulder. “Except they’re garbage bags, and subtract thepresents and add body parts.” He laughs to himself as he starts walking to the door. “Kind of like Krampus instead of Saint Nick.” Still talking to no one in particular, Finn leaves the basement with the last garbage bag in tow.

“Is he alright in the head?”

“Says the girl that just spent the past two hours torturing and dismembering a body.”

“He deserved worse,” she whispers as she begins wrapping up the plastic wrap, careful not to spill the blood. As I help her, the sound of plastic quickly stops.

“Wait a minute—how did you know I was here? And how did you know it took me two hours?” Kneeling in front of the plastic, I turn my head towards her.

“I told you, tesoro. I know a lot more about you than you think.” She huffs from beside me as I continue to clean up.

“Then you know Van is selling the club, which means I need to find a new place to live.”

Now that, I didn’t know. I stand, discarding the plastic wrap and crack my neck with frustration.

“No, I didn’t know that,” I practically growl out.

“Yeah, he and his wife want to travel during their retirement and want to sell the club.” Sky sounds hurt, lost even, as if the future is cloudy and no longer linear for her. She’s made this her home for so long, gotten into a very meticulous routine with her victims. There is no other place for her to carry out her revenge than here.

I go to her, gripping her chin in my fingers and raising her face towards mine. Big hazel-caramel eyes are glazed with tears that she refuses to shed. She’s strong, stubbornly so. She wouldn’t show weakness, especially with something as small as this.

“I’ll take care of it, tesoro. You don’t need to worry.”

“How are you going to take care of it, Saxon? I’ll be fine, I promise. I can take care of myself.” She goes to step away, but I hold her firm.

“I know you can.” I kiss her gently, absorbing the small whimper she lets slip past her lips. God, she tastes so good. Like mint and sin. This isn’t enough. No, I need more. I need more of her right fucking now. I grab her ass and lift her to me, her legs wrapping around my waist as I head towards the table she has against the back wall.

“Saxon, we can’t. Not here.”